


Something Special

by danblossom



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Dan Howell and Phil Lester Are Married, Dan Howell and Phil Lester Are Parents, Domestic Dan Howell/Phil Lester, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 17:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17104967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danblossom/pseuds/danblossom
Summary: The holidays always brings something special.





	Something Special

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second fic I've written, a continued AU from "A Star in the Galaxy."  
> I'm still a new writer so I'd love to know what parts you liked or didn't like and any comments/critiques are appreciated :)

The auditorium went dark, only a dim spotlight shining against the thick red curtains of the stage. Dan and Phil sat in the center front row, their long legs stretched out in front of them. The sound of hands clapping and whistling began to surround the room, as the red curtains started to pull apart from the center. There, stood center of the stage, was their son James and his classmates surrounding him. Dan immediately sat up straight from his seat, meeting eyes with his 9 year old son. He waved, taking his two fingers near his temple and saluted towards him, a gesture they exchanged often. James took a step forward, saluted back to Dan, then waved to the rest of the cheering audience.

“Phil, Phil, Phil,” Dan excitedly shook Phil’s arm, not realizing what Phil was doing.

“Dan, wait! Dan!” Phil replied back, shooing away Dan with his right hand while trying to hold steady of his phone with his left.  

“James!” Phil called out, trying to grab his son’s attention.

James turned back towards the center of the audience. He could easily pinpoint two tall figures; One trying to hold onto the other’s arm while the other was struggling to take a photo. It made James laugh, as he tilted his head back and waved back excitedly.

“Got it.” Phil captured that exact moment when he suddenly got hit with an overwhelming amount of nostalgia of being on stage himself. His memory took him back to over 15 years ago when he was traveling the world and performing on numerous stages a week with his now partner, Dan. The world tour brought them closer not only to each other, but also with their audience that still supported them till this day. Weeks spent away from home and traveling with bare minimum, having to adjust to different time zones and attend multiple rehearsals, Phil knew he wouldn't have survived without Dan beside him. After each show, as they'd make their way over backstage, Dan would squeeze Phil's shoulder and ask, "You okay?" and without hesitation, Phil's response was: "Yeah... with you, beside me? I'll always be okay."

Phil placed his phone on his lap and looked over at Dan, whose gaze was now focused towards the stage, staring up at their son while clapping his hands with a grin on his face.

Dan caught Phil’s stare. “What?” He snickered, scrunching his face into a frown but remaining his smile.

“Nothing,” Phil grinned, nudging his arm against Dan’s on the armrest.

“What is it?” Dan asked again, nudging his arm back, keeping his stare on Phil.

“I’m proud of you.”

“Me? What?” Dan motioned his hands towards the stage. “Our son is literally on stage right now.”

“I’m proud of both of you.” Phil corrected himself.

Dan shook his head, his smile not once fading. “Are you thinking back to when we used to be on stage together?”

Phil nodded.

“Look at him Phil,” Dan turns his eyes towards the stage again. “I’m proud of him too. He’s so happy up there.”

“Like we were.”

Parents, teachers and everyone else in the auditorium stood to their feet and began to clap as the children lined up along the stage once again. James stood in the middle, linking arms with his peers that were standing next to him. James grinned and took a bow, as the sound of hands clapping and whistling increased. At that moment, Dan immediately shot up to his feet, the playbill of A Christmas Carol falling from his lap onto the floor. Having just heard what Phil said about being on stage together and seeing his son before him, Dan too is hit with the flashback of taking countless bows on stage in front of a cheering crowd himself. He remembers putting all of his energy, from one show to another and sharing a bit of the world that him and Phil created together with thousands of people. As emotionally and physically exhausting it sometimes was, the feeling of pride and joy reminded him how special that world was. Since the world tour, Dan's life have taken many twists and turns, ups and downs; But the person that stood by him, did not.

 

—

 

“Budddddddy!” Dan knelt down in the hallway of the school to meet eye level with his son.

“Dad!” James, still in costume, stepped outside of the dressing room and ran towards Dan’s open arms.

“James, that was so good! You were amazing!” Phil congratulated, kneeling beside Dan with one arm behind his back, hiding a gift he and Dan had picked up before the play.

James’ drama teacher followed behind.

“Lovely job James. You two should be proud.” She told Dan and Phil with a nod.

Dan looked up and chuckled. “We are, aren’t we?” He rustled the top of James’ wavy hair.

“Look what we got you,” Phil revealed a bouquet of white peonies from his back and handed it to James.

James’ eyes widened as he took the bouquet, so large that it hit his torso from his face. “Dad, thanks!”

“We’re so proud,” Dan repeated. “You were a great Tiny Tim.”

“How about we celebrate with something special when we get home?” Phil suggested, picking off a loose thread from James’ collar.

"Like, ice cream?" James exclaimed.

Phil laughed. "Like ice cream, yes."

“Go grab your things, bud.” Dan patted James’ shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

 

—

 

A fresh layer of snow had fallen during the show, as all the children screeched in excitement when stepping outside of the school auditorium. Dan dusted off the snow from the windshield with his gloves as Phil tightened the strings of James’ puffy jacket. They piled in a few minutes after the car had warmed up. Dan turned on the radio as Christmas carols blared all around. He adjusted his seatbelt and checked the rear view mirror, catching James’ eyes in the back seat, bundled up and tucked safely in his seatbelt. James’ almonds eyes smiled back, his cheeks the color of pink from the cold.  
Before pulling out of the parking lot, James had decided which flavor of ice cream he wanted when they got home. He then told his Dads about having butterflies in his stomach before going on stage, but the _good_ kind, making Dan’s heart full to hear the joy of performing from his own son.  
Halfway through the drive, Phil and James began to play their usual game in the car, where they’d take turns and draw on the fogged glass, making each other guess.  
Phil leaned his arm over and first drew a moon, James followed along by drawing a rocketship on top.  
When it was back to Phil’s turn to draw, James was stumped.

“I don’t know what that is, Dad.” He said, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

“What _is_ that?” Dan screeched when catching a glance of the drawing when he came to a stop at a red light.

James bursted into laughter.

“It’s an alien! I tried!” Phil laughed along.

The drawing guessing game continued, as the window became covered in doodles with space themed drawings. Just minutes before pulling up to the driveway of their home, James fell soundly asleep, his head resting against the window, next to a star that Phil had drawn.

“I don’t want to wake him up, I got him.” Phil assured as he unbuckled his seatbelt. He got out of the car and opened the back door ever so gently, as James’ resting head fell onto his own shoulder. Phil leaned over, unbuckling James’ seatbelt and pulling him into his chest.

Dan walked up ahead on their driveway and fumbled for the house keys in his coat pocket, as he caught a glance of their brightly lit Christmas tree between the curtains of their lounge window. Dan opened the front door to be greeted with a whiff mix of the peppermint candle they had burned earlier that day and sugar cookies they baked before leaving the house. He held the door open for Phil, as we walked past with James over his shoulder.

Phil motioned his hands that he was going upstairs as Dan nodded, throwing the keys into the bowl they kept on top of their foyer table.

Dan made his way over to the lounge and admired the Christmas tree before him. It was Christmas Eve and the tree had been up since the first of December, the lights being kept on since.

Some of James’ toys and books were scattered near the sofa, as Dan started to tidy up while Phil was still upstairs putting James to bed.

Dan heard Phil’s footsteps approaching.

“It’s so quiet.” Phil commented, peering into the doorway of the lounge.  “Last year James stayed up with us until we all fell asleep, we forgot to sneak in presents under the tree so James thought that Santa forgot our address.”

Dan let out a laugh. “Oh dear, that was memorable. James spent about an hour straight with his nose pressed up against the window, trying to look for Santa that morning.”

Phil laughed along. “Yeah but then we wrote that note from ‘Santa’ that he was playing ‘hide the presents’ this year so that gave us time to scatter the presents around the house.”

“Yup,” Dan snickered. “James ended up loving it though. He got so excited finding each present behind every door in the house, there was wrapping paper everywhere.”

“My mum was so confused when she came over later that day,” Phil continued laughing. “I miss that.”

“Me too,” Dan agreed. “That was something special.”

“So, can _we_ still get ice cream?” Phil asked, with a cheesy grin on his face.

Dan chuckled, shaking his head in admiration. “Yes, we can Phil. I’ll get us some.”

Dan made his way over to the kitchen, leaving Phil in the lounge with the brightly lit Christmas tree before him. Phil decided to make a fire and knelt beside the fireplace. He looked up at the tree and admired all the baubles that were hung above him.  
Since they’ve moved into their forever home, every Christmas they made it a tradition to get each other a bauble that represented the year that they had to reflect back on the memories they made together. Ornaments from various countries they’ve traveled together filled up majority of the tree, but other ornaments with special meaning like: a white, 3 tier cake in celebration of their marriage, a cherry blossom bauble in representation of their favorite place to visit during their anniversary and Phil’s personal favorite, an angel bauble that represented the year they brought James into their lives.   
It was James' favorite too; When asked where he came from one year, Phil replied: "The angel brought you to us". 

Phil heard Dan in the kitchen; drawers opening and cabinets being shut. He adjusted some of the presents that were stacked under the tree when he noticed a box that was unwrapped. Phil reached down to examine the box—

“ _What_ are you doing?” Dan interrupted, standing in the doorway with a bowl of ice cream in one hand and two spoons in the other.

Phil jumped from being startled and placed his hand over his chest. “Oh my gosh, I thought you were still in the kitchen.”

“What are you doing, _Lester_?” Dan repeated, laughing, while leaning his head to the side to try take a peek behind Phil.

“Nothing! I just noticed one gift wasn’t wrapped.”

Dan squinted his eyes.  “Did you peek?”

“No?”

“Okay good,” Dan made his way over to the sofa. “I still have to wrap that one. And there’s some other gifts for James in the hall closet.”

“I need to wrap some gifts too,” Phil followed Dan, reaching for the spoon.

“Can you get the wrapping paper and tape out please?” Dan teasingly asked, pulling the spoon away from Phil’s reach.

Phil grunted and reached for the spoon again. “Let me have some ice cream first.”

Dan was quick; He pulled away further, almost dropping the bowl of ice cream. “ _Phiiiiil_ , _please!_ ”

“Ugh,” Phil sighed, giving up, when he quickly reached for the spoon before Dan had the chance to pull away this time. “I need a bite first.”

“You and your sweet tooth,” Dan grinned, pushing the bowl of ice cream towards Phil.

The boys ended up finishing the bowl of ice cream together near the fire and decided that they both grab the rest of the presents that needed to be wrapped.

 

—

 

Dan turned on a Christmas playlist on low volume as Phil lit their peppermint candle that was sitting on the coffee table.

“Does the quiet bother you after James goes to sleep?” Dan asked.

“What do you mean?” Phil looked up.

“I don’t know, sometimes...” Dan trailed off. “Don’t use this against me but I miss being woken up to James needing us when he was younger.”

“You miss us playing rock, paper, scissors while laying in bed? Half asleep? Deciding which one of us would have to get up?” Phil teased.

Dan nodded with a smile. “Yeah honestly, I do. Seeing his toys and books everywhere that someday he's going to stop using and reading... What is time, Phil?”

Phil grinned. “Don’t use this against me either but I miss it too. Today made me realize he’s growing up and sure, sometimes he still needs us in the middle of the night but soon he won’t need us at all—”

“Whoa, Phil,” Dan interrupted. “You’re supposed to drag me out of my parenting crisis, not come down here with me.” He laughed.

“It’s true!” Phil replied.

The boys continued to laugh and fill the house with Christmas music, grabbing another bowl of ice cream to share and leftover cookies from earlier. They wrapped James’ presents together, Dan holding pieces of tape between his lips and Phil pressing down the folds of the paper. 

When it came to wrapping each other gifts, they sat with their backs to each other so the gifts wouldn’t be spoiled. Dan sang along to White Christmas and insisted Phil needed to wait till the song was over before he could turn back around. Phil kept one particular gift on his lap though, not placing it under the tree with the rest in the pile and anxiously waited.

“What’s taking so long?” Phil asked, fumbling with the box.

“ _May your days be merry and bright_ — Shh!” Dan shushed. “ _And may all your Christmas be white._ ” He softly sang.

The music came to a stop from Dan’s phone.

“Can I turn around now?” Phil impatiently asked.

“Yes, you spoon, you can turn around.” Dan chuckled behind him.

Phil spun around to see Dan kneeling near the fireplace, poking the fire with the iron rod. The fire in the fireplace had burned through the last dry wood, fading away with soft flickers and crackles.

“Could you hit replay on the playlist, Phil?” Dan asked, scooting back to where he was sitting.

Phil reached for Dan’s phone across from him.

A thud came from the upstairs, as both the boys jerked up and met eyes with each other.

“Is that James?” Dan whispered.

Phil stood still. “If he comes down here right now, that’d be really bad.” He said, barely moving his lips. 

“I’ll go check.” Dan slowly got up to his feet, stepping over the pile of wrapping paper, as Phil noticed a piece of tape stuck to the bottom of Dan’s sock. Dan didn’t notice as Phil snickered, pressing his hand up to his mouth to keep from bursting into laughter.

Dan left the room, as Phil began to stack the new wrapped presents neatly under the tree. He heard Dan’s footsteps shuffling upstairs, their wooden floorboards creaking and finally heard a door open, probably to James' room. 

He still held onto the one particular gift, hesitating if he was going to place it underneath the tree or sneak it into the bedroom so that he could surprise Dan with this gift in the morning. There were few Christmases where Dan had also snuck in gifts for Phil to open in the morning in bed, before James came storming in. As he was about to reach down, Dan suddenly appeared into the lounge. 

“We’re good, he’s sound asleep,”

Phil jerked up, dropping the box as it turned over towards Dan’s feet.

“Ah, I didn’t hear you!” Phil gasped, grabbing his chest.

“Why are you so jumpy today?” Dan started to chuckle, bending forward to grab the box. “You dropping this is going to wake James now, just wait and see.”

Phil let out a deep breath. “The house might be quiet but you—”

“ _Yes_?” Dan held the box up to his face with a mischievous smile.

“Give me that,” Phil reached forward.

“I hope there isn’t anything fragile in here, Phil.” Dan examined the box, ignoring Phil’s reach. “Wh— _Phil_ . What _is_ this?” He turned the box over to the side where a fold of the wrapping paper was held down by tiny pieces of tape.

“It’s what’s inside that counts! Now, give.” Phil reached forward again.

“I swear every year your wrapping skills gets worse.” Dan chuckled. “Is this mine?”

Phil sighed, his hand still reached out in front of him. “I just want to make sure it’s okay. No spoilers, remember?”

“It’s midnight.” Dan said, pointing above the fireplace where their clock hung, as the hand shifted over just a minute after twelve.

“And?”

“It’s _Christmas,_ Phil.” Dan’s mischievous smile reappeared. “Please let me open _one_ thing.”

“I mean,” Phil let his hand fall to his side. He _was_ going to let Dan open this gift in the morning anyway before James and their families arrived, the timing seemed to work in Phil’s favor. “Sure.”

“Oh, so this _is_ mine?” Dan’s smile suddenly dropped. “Wait, why? You rarely let me open a gift unless it’s something special.” He suspiciously asked.

“Do you want to open it or not?” Phil took a seat on the floor where he sat earlier, motioning for Dan to follow.

“I do but now your agreement to this is making me nervous it’s something big.” Dan unconsciously followed and sat across from Phil, crossing his legs. “We promised each other this year, remember? To save up for—”

“I know we did. It is something special but it won’t affect what we have been saving up for, I promise.”

Dan scrunched his nose. “Oh dear, alright, I asked for this. I can’t believe you’re actually letting me.” He gently unwrapped the box and lifted up the lid. “You know, we made a promise and I didn’t spend a lot on yours, just saying.” Dan rambled, pulling out white tissue paper. “I know most of our savings are going towards— .” Dan paused.

Dan let the last tissue paper he had in hand drop, as he slowly pulled out a bauble from the box, hung by a gold string.

His eyes widened.

“P—Phil.” Dan looked up at Phil, holding up the glass bauble near his face; Inside was an angel, the figure with its arms held out front, a gold halo and its’ silver wings glistening against the light from the Christmas tree.

“Yeah it’s an angel.” Phil replied, clearing his throat. “Watching James grow up with you is a joy I will forever cherish and there are so many years to come.” Phil adjusted his glasses, realizing his hands were shaking. “What we talked about tonight, here, the house being too quiet… But us talking about adopting another child this past year and deciding to work and save towards getting another surrogate,” Phil began to ramble.

“Phil,” Dan softly said.

“Remember we sent in our second request _months_ ago for adoption? Last week I got an email for a possible interview with a mother—”

“ _P_ _hil._ ” Dan gently set the bauble down off to the side.

“I wanted to tell you right then but I wanted to always remember this moment with our tradition with the bauble and saving up towards something special—”

“ _Phil._ ” Dan began to fidget from where he sat.

“You and me, we want this. I—I think we’re ready, yeah?”

Dan leaned towards Phil, tackling him into a pile of wrapping paper scraps and ribbons; And with a giant smile on his face, ever so gently, pressed a kiss on Phil’s cheek.

Phil, first stunned, but felt Dan's warmth and embraced him in his arms. "So... is that a yes? Are you ready?”

Dan grinned. “Yeah... with you, beside me? I will always be ready. Now  _t_ _his_ , is truly something special.”


End file.
